BERLIN (Reuters) – The German government is drawing up a paper aimed at revamping the country’s defence industry, a spokesperson for the Economy Ministry said on Sunday, without providing additional details.
“I can confirm that the government is working on the strategy paper for the modernisation of the defence and security industry. It is being developed in several departments,” the spokesperson said, confirming an earlier Handelsblatt report.
Handelsblatt reported that the strategy paper would include clauses that would allow an accelerated approval of the construction of arms factories in Germany, including the shortening of deadlines and limiting the possibility of objections by citizens’ initiatives.
Germany’s three-way coalition is planning to adopt the paper in August, Handelsblatt said.
The news about the revamped defence modernisation push comes shortly after German defence firm Rheinmetall and Italian peer Leonardo earlier this month agreed to form a joint venture to produce tanks and other land defence systems.
(Reporting by Klaus Lauer in Berlin and Christoph Steitz in Frankfurt; Editing by Alison Williams)
